Different
by AbominableWriting
Summary: Alice's  before story, Alice is my favourite character and I've been meaning to do this for ages...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer for the whole FF: Sadly I own none of the epicness Stephanie Meyer wrote :( Imma go cry now...

I was sitting on a high uneven chair of a half-empty diner, staring out of the transparent glass panels. Dark rain clouds were heavy in the sky and the charcoal tarmac was being pummelled with rain. I was patiently waiting for _him_. The glass door opened and slammed making the windows tremble. I didn't look up at first I was afraid it wouldn't be him. When I did a tall, pale, blonde man with burgundy coloured eyes was walking slowly towards the stool next to mine, I hopped off my chair as I felt a smile slide onto my face for the first time in weeks. This was it!


	2. Chapter 2

Three months earlier

The last thing I remember from my other life were two coal black eyes staring down at me, a sharp pain in my neck, then nothing.

In that order.

I gasped as my eyes flew open, the cold sweet air swirled around my nose and pinched my face. The calm breeze gently fondled the tall, gangly grass that reached over my head. I lay there for a moment staring up at the close-to-dawn sky, not seeing the stars nor the slither of moonlight, instead a very different scene; a young blond man and a short, black-haired girl skipping along at his side, were making their way through a forest towards a huge white house. I couldn't stop looking at the blond man, his striking dark red eyes strangely mesmerising. The girl at his side started humming a song I found vaguely familiar, and in my annoyance at her for interrupting my staring, I spared her a glance and gasped: she was me! Well, she was very close to me, she had the same hair and posture but her skin was ghostly white, her eyes a bizarre scarlet colour and above all, everything about her was heart-breakingly perfect.

I watched till they reached the door of the white house then my vision started to go hazy and I was unceremoniously dumped back into reality. By now the sky had started to lighten and birds were starting to chirp in the dense trees surrounding my little meadow. I lay there until I could hear a dog barking and its owner shouting at it. I jumped up and ran at the speed of light away from the dog-human duo and into the trees, my ears expecting the hollow thump of my heart and hearing nothing-well everything really, instead of the even beat of my heart, I could hear everything for a mile around me, and I realised that, in my hast, I had miscalculated the distance of the barking, the dog and its owner wouldn't reach clearing for another five minutes or so. Then I smelt it. The warm juicy scent of the owners' blood. Horrified, I bolted away from the meadow and scampered up the nearest tree. From there, at the top of an immense pine tree, I could see everything for miles around, the forest around me stretched on for acres and acres, the only thing cutting into it was the low glint of streetlamps shutting off in a near town. Being my new goal, I let go of the tree and pushed of in a flip to the ground and galloped away at a break-neck speed.


	3. Chapter 3

The town was one of those remote, scruffy, farming towns. I noted, as I hid in the trees sheltering the car park of a small church, that most of the people milling around the half-abandoned shops looked as if they hadn't had baths in weeks. Even the sweet smell of their blood was tainted by the sour smell of body odour. It was the only thing stopping me from leaping from my cover and snapping their necks. Still slightly sickened by my apparent new favourite food, I edged back into the dark confines of the trees. I don't know how long I sat there pondering, I only knew I was eventually interrupted by two young children, no sound and then suddenly, they were there. They looked about nine or ten, a boy and a girl and by the looks on their faces, they were expecting to see me about as much as I was them. With the soft skin of their necks so close, I couldn't help myself. I lunged at the girl and without thinking and bit into her neck, her pure sweet blood swirling in my mouth. She struggled for a moment and then went still. All of this happened in seconds so I dumped the girl and grabbed the boy before he could yell for help. My instincts kicking in, I twisted his head around until I heard a sharp snap and I greedily sucked his circulatory system dry. As soon as I was finished, my mind began to reject what I had just done, I started to shake, I curled up into a ball and bit my rock-hard knuckles to stop myself from screaming.


	4. Chapter 4

However fast I ran away, I couldn't escape the vision of their mangled bodies, the tiny things had barely lived their lives before I had cruelly taken them away. And what for? All for the satisfaction of a meal? I suddenly felt sick and regretted even moving an inch from my perch in the tree. I had reached the next town before I knew it and this time I stayed well away from all people. I stayed in that frame of mind for three or so days and on the third day my whole body was shaking from lack of blood. I watched the sunrise from an oak tree near a remote beach.

As if by magic, the day went from the bright sunlight of early-ish morning to dusk. It reminded me of a poem I think I once heard by someone called…Robert…Freeze? No…Frost! Yes Robert Frost, something about dawn and, gold I think. All I can remember clearly was the line "Then dawn goes down to day". Oh yes! Nothing gold can stay! That's it! I had no recollection of where I had heard it, but I had the inexplicable feeling of safety when I thought of it. I found it weird that, of all things to recall, I remembered that.

Wherever I had heard it, it could wait, it was getting dark and my throat was aching again. I couldn't bear the thought of more…slaughter, so I started to stand up. I was in the middle of doing this at lightning speed when I was hurled into another vision-this time of a bronze haired man killing a deer and then drinking it's blood. The vision intrigued me so much that, when I was unceremoniously tossed back into reality, I didn't care that I immediately lost my balance and fell to the ground. I wondered if it was possible for someone like me a…a vampire (shudder) to live off animal blood and still be an actual vampire. I then realized that his eyes weren't red like the weird doppelganger of myself that I had seen in my previous vision, they were a light buttery colour. What was I? As I push myself up onto my knees, I catch a glimpse of myself in a shallow pool of glittering water at the foot of a towering cedar. Unsurprised, I noted that my reflection was identical to that of my twin from the vision and I touched the rippling screen and my portrait burst into nothing.

Just then I could feel someone watching me, or in this case, some_thing_. A young elk had its head halfway hidden behind a tree about 10 metres away, it's huge round eye watching me with extreme fear. Right then I knew what to do, my hunting instincts kicked in again and before I knew it the Elk's broken neck was underneath my knee and I was already leaning down to drink. Though it wasn't as wonderful as human blood, it was refreshing and I shuddered with ecstasy as it coursed down my throat, numbing the burn of my thirst. I tracked down two more elk before collapsing in happiness. I didn't have to be a killer!

I continued this routine for about 20 years, all the while plagued by visions of the weird bronze haired man, my likeness and the blond man.

Foot note: If any of you care, as I know I would, the poem Nothing gold can stay was written in 1923 by Robert Frost and yes, I know Alice was changed in 1920, therefore making this FF set in 1920ish, therefore making it WRONG, I am stressing majorly about this little chronological error, but couldn't give up the poem. I also couldn't bear leaving my readers thinking "huh?" as I assume some of you are (Terribly OCD aren't I?) so I added this footnote now regretting it more and more by the second…Btw, more coming soon Please review, I'm lonely. And I can't write when I'm lonely. See? Your lack of reviews have already messed up my grammar (Never have "and" as the first word of a sentence).


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